


It Started with a Name

by longlive97



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Avengers Family, Fluff, Getting Together, Hurt Tony Stark, M/M, Mutual Pining, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:28:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23558374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/longlive97/pseuds/longlive97
Summary: It started the first time he said Tony's name.The first time that he heard him say ‘Tony Stark’, the whole world collapsed in on itself. There had been many times that he had said Mr. Stark or Stark or just Tony, but never Tony Stark. It seemed weird, thinking back to it. They had been living in the tower together for about 6 months now and he had never said Tony's full name until that point.*A soulmate AU, when you say someones full name you're soulmark fills with colour. Tony tries to hide from his soulmate but fate has other plans.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 10
Kudos: 520





	It Started with a Name

**Author's Note:**

> hey yall! thanks for reading my fic, just something that in my head that wouldn't go away after endless looking through the soulmate tag.  
> Tanks to my beta, you are a star.

It started the first time he said Tony's name.

The first time that he heard him say ‘Tony Stark’, the whole world collapsed in on itself. There had been many times that he had said Mr. Stark or Stark or just Tony, but never Tony Stark. It seemed weird, thinking back to it. They had been living in the tower together for about 6 months now and he had never said Tony's full name until that point.

It was a normal day like any other. Tony came into the kitchen blurry eyed and in the search for coffee. Steve and Clint were sitting around the island, quietly talking to each other. At least, it was quiet until Tony entered the room. 

“Tony! My bro, where ya been? Come sit with us!” Clint practically yelled, too loud for any time of day.

“Sorry Clint, what did you say? I can’t hear you, maybe a little louder?” Tony matched his volume as he turned to pour himself a cup of coffee.

He turned back just in time to see Clint inhale a large breath and open his mouth wide, about to scream when-

“Tony Stark, do not antagonize him. He will wake the whole tower with his screaming.” Steve laughed light-heartedly. He turned toward Tony and the smile slid off his face. 

Tony was standing there, mug in one hand and coffee pot in the other, staring straight at Steve. He could feel the shivers start to build underneath his skin and his heart start to beat faster. Then came the tingles. The tingles he felt right over the soul-mark he had on his left hip and that could only mean one thing.

“Hey Tones, are you all right?” Steve stared back at him, concern written all over his face.

“Uh- yes. Y-yeah. I’m good. All good here. I just- uh remembered I have to go. Gotta do something for Pepper.” Tony put the coffee pot and the mug down as fast as he could and darted out of the room.

As he sped toward the elevator, he focused on controlling his breath. In - out. In - out. That's all he could do until he got to the relative safety of his lab. Once he was there, he made his way over to the couch that he kept in the corner. The one that Steve would come sit on and sketch while Tony worked. He sat down and rubbed over the mark on his hip. He pulled down the waist of his pants slightly to look at the mark. The once black circle was now filled in with blue, white and gray. It almost looked like Cap’s shield but with the colours of his arc reactor. 

There was no mistaking it. Everyone knew how this worked. You say the full name of a person, feel the tingles and your mark fills in with colour.  
Steve Rogers was his soulmate.

Steve Rogers was his soulmate and Tony had no idea what he could do about it. It's not like he could tell him. No, that would only end in disaster and he couldn't put the team in jeopardy. Not when they had finally found their stride. Plus, he had heard that soulmate rejection was the most painful thing a human could experience. No, Tony would have to keep this to himself.

He could do that, it wasn’t that hard. All he had to do was avoid saying Steve’s full name, which in all honesty would not be very difficult. He barely used names as it was, preferring to call people by nicknames. No that wouldn’t be the hard part. The hard part would be not letting this develop his feelings into more than they already were. Over the past couple months he had started to notice the little flutter in his stomach when Steve smiled at him and the way he always tried to make him laugh. He was adult enough to admit he had an attraction to Steve, but he thought that was all it was. This was so much more.

Tony decided right then and there that it would be a good idea for him to just quietly avoid Steve. It would make it a lot easier for everyone. This way, Tony’s feelings didn’t develop more than they already had, and for Steve’s sake, Tony didn’t do anything stupid like say something and ruin Steve’s life.

Avoiding it was. Avoidance he could do. 

*

The next couple weeks, he did a good job of staying away. He honestly had work that had to get done. Paperwork that he had been putting off, meetings that kept him out of the tower for a few days in a row. He worked on updates and went to bed at odd hours, hoping to not run into anyone in the elevator.

When Steve would ask to come and sit with him in the lab, Tony would come up with some sort of excuse like he was leaving soon or working on something too temperamental for people to be around right now. He would watch the video playback of Steve at the door of the lab. He could see him take a deep breath and his shoulders hunch. He would always walk away with no complaints, but he would always stop, turn back and look at the entrance before turning and continuing to walk away.

It hurt Tony to see Steve walk away but he knew it was for the best. The friendship that they had built meant so much to Tony, but now he couldn’t just have a friendship and that’s all Steve would want. So it was better to just have a clean break and save himself the hurt later.

The more time went, the less Steve came around. The sting was there but Tony knew it was a good thing. He thought that maybe he’d get through this with the team and his pride intact, but fate had other plans for him, in the form of movie night.

Movie night had become somewhat of a tradition in the Avengers tower, as their resident grandpa and living god had a lot to catch up on. They all took turns showing them movies that they believe to be culturally relevant, and it was something that Tony always looked forward to. Well he looked forward to it, but he didn’t always remember it, and today happened to be one of those days. 

Face buried in equations, Tony didn’t really stop to think when he heard Jarvis say something about Natasha. He just hummed and kept working. 

“Okay, time to come up for some air”, he heard her voice say right over his shoulder, startling him out of his daze.

“Hello to you too Nat. To what do I owe the pleasure?” Tony tried to play off the slight jumpscare casually. 

“Oh, don’t tell me that you forgot. No wait, I’m not surprised with how distant you’ve been lately. Come on, we are going upstairs.” She grabbed his arm and proceeded to drag him out of the lab.

“Forgot what? Where are we going? Don’t kidnap me, I’ve had enough of that for one lifetime”, Tony said, truly unaware of what was happening.

“If I wanted to kidnap you, you wouldn’t know you were being kidnapped.”

“Okay that is scary, but beautiful. However, that doesn’t explain where you are taking me.”

“It’s movie night”, Natasha said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Movie night, of course. How could he forget? The whole team gathered around, joking and laughing. Trying to explain plot points to Thor and Steve- 

Oh, Steve. For a brief happy moment, he had forgotten about the predicament that he had found himself in. The thought of having to go sit down and watch a movie and pretend that everything is okay makes his head start to spin, already trying to come with reasons as to why he can’t go. Natasha looks at him as if she can see the wheels turning in his head. 

“Now, you have to come upstairs. It’s your turn to pick the movie and you can’t bail on that responsibility. Plus, Steve says you always pick the best ones, and you wouldn’t want to disappoint him, would you?” She had a look in her eye like she knew exactly what Tony was trying to hide.

With a sigh, Tony stopped resisting and let himself be pulled out of the lab. The thought of disappointing Steve made him feel so unsettled, and if that meant he had to go and sit through a movie with him, Tony would do it. Besides, it was just a movie. Very little talking involved and he could sit far away from Steve to make it even easier.

*  
That plan backfired as soon as they stepped into the media room. There weren’t many of them, but they took up a lot of space. While Tony himself thought the bigger the better, he knew that not everyone felt that way and he wanted everyone to feel comfortable. He designed the room so it felt as much like a family room as it could, while still being on a top floor of a billion dollar tower. Half of the large L shaped couch was being taken over by Thor, while the other half was being occupied by Sam. Bruce was curled up in one of the armchairs while Clint was flat on his back on one of the loveseats. 

There were two seats available, an empty armchair and a spot on the other loveseat next to Steve. When Tony looked over to the empty spot and then back up at Steve, he noticed a warm inviting smile and a slight head tilt as he moved a pillow to make room. It was his regular spot, nothing strange about it. However, with everything that had come to light, the spot felt daunting. No way that was going to work, so he started making his way over to the chair, pointedly ignoring the look in Steve’s eyes.

As he was making his way over, he felt a figure breeze pass him. Natasha gracefully sat down and made a point of looking him in the eye as if she was asking him to challenge her. He tried not to audibly sigh as he started to move toward Steve and the empty spot. He tried not to notice the way Steve perked up a little as Tony walked in front of him.

“Hey Cap, is this seat taken?” Tony made sure to keep his voice friendly and light, not giving in to his emotions.

“It's your spot Tones, so by all means”, Steve responded, gesturing at the foreboding space. 

As Tony sat, he tried to keep as much room between them as possible, even with the limited room that they had. He made himself as small as he could and tucked himself into the corner.

“Alright! Now that we are all here and the movie-picker has arrived, let's get this party started! What are we watching tonight?” Clint spoke, enthusiastic as ever, looking expectantly over to Tony.

“Well, we’ve been talking about it for a while and I think it’s time that we finally start Star Wars.” There were a few hums of agreement and a small woop from Clint, excited as always.

“Original trilogy to start of course. Jarvis, could you please start up A New Hope?”

“Of course sir”, and the room began to dim as the famous title sequence came onto the screen. 

A few minutes into the movie Tony’s body began to relax, until he felt his legs brush up against Steve. He went to jerk away, but felt a hand rest on his knee, preventing him from moving. Steve leaned over and moved toward him, his body pressing along Tony’s.

“I’ve missed you, Shellhead. I know you’ve been real' busy lately with important things, but I’m not gonna say I don’t miss being around you”, Steve whispered as to not disturb the others. 

Tony felt the tingle again as Steve moved his arm to the backrest and around Tony’s shoulder. Tony wanted nothing more than to turn and face Steve, pull his face in close, and kiss him like his life depended on it, but that was all a fantasy. Not something that would ever happen.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I missed you too Winghead. Now pay attention or you are going to get confused and I’m not explaining it to you.”  
Tony avoided looking at him in favour of looking at the movie playing.

Tony didn’t realize how tired he was until he was basically already asleep. Avoiding Steve meant keeping busy, which in turn meant he hadn’t been sleeping all that much. His eyes started to feel heavier and after each blink it became harder to open them again. He didn't remember moving at all, but somehow his head ended up resting on Steve’s chest, with his arm wrapped around Tony’s shoulder. At one point there must have been some yelling in the movie, as Tony was jerked back awake. Only Steve didn’t let him stay that way, carefully moving Tony’s head back to where it was. 

“Close your eyes, sweetheart. Go back to sleep”, Tony heard as he started drifting again. The words didn’t register. All he could think about was the feeling of Steve’s hand rubbing small circles on his shoulder. 

Tony closed his eyes and let himself drift, feeling the warmth of the body pressed against him. He soon fell back asleep before he knew it. The next time he woke, it was to the sound of shushing and muffled movement. He pried his eyes open to look around for the noises. He caught the tail end of his team silently making their way out of the room and he vaguely wondered why they were trying to be so quiet.

“Oh, Tony- you’re awake! I was hoping you’d stay asleep, lord knows you need it. Was it the noise? I told them to be quiet, but you’re just a light sleeper sometimes I guess.” Tony hadn’t realized that he was still pressed against Steve, and he startled slightly at his words. 

Tony moved away before Steve could react, and stood up. He was hoping to make this as quick as possible for both of them. No muss, no fuss, or so they say.

“Yeah well, shouldn’t really be sleeping right now anyway. The movie took up 2 hours of my oh so precious time and I should really get back to it.” 

Tony straightened himself and ran his hand through his hair, hoping he didn’t look too much like someone who was overtired and craving to dive back into the spot he just vacated.

“Are you sure that's a good idea? You seem exhausted, how have you been sleeping?”

The concern on Steve’s face would have been touching if that feeling didn’t scare the hell out of him.

“Nonsense, Captain! I am perfectly capable of knowing my limits-”, Tony starts to trail off as Steve sends him that look. “-most of the time”, he added, as he moved his hand to cover a yawn.

Steve just sighed and stood up.

“Right, and I’m sure that now is one of those times when you know your limit?” 

“Of course it is, Capsicle. I am in control of all my facilities.” Tony started to turn away, not really wanting to face Steve head on anymore.

“Tony, you know if there is anything that you need to talk about, you can tell me? You’re one of my best friends and I can tell when something is going on. You can’t hide it from me.” Tony felt a hand reach out and touch his shoulder. He kept his body turned, willing his heart to stop racing.

“I know I can’t, winghead.” Not daring to look into Steve’s eye, Tony knew this to be true. He couldn’t hide his emotions from Steve. He had lost that ability long ago.

Tony realized right then, that he probably would never be able stop his emotions again, not when it came to Steve. If Tony couldn’t hide his emotion, hiding himself would just have to do, no matter how much it hurt. Hardening his gaze as best he could, Tony brushed Steve’s hand off and turned to face him.

“You know, contrary to popular belief, I am an adult. I can take care of myself and I really don’t need a babysitter.” 

“Tony, that’s not wha-” 

“I’m tired of people thinking that I’m incapable of doing anything, that I have no control. I have control like you wouldn’t believe. You have no idea. I am a beacon of self-control”, Tony ranted, thinking about all the ways life had been frustrating him.

“Okay Tony, slow dow-”

“And I would like to remind you that I do in fact own a fortune 500 company that I must attend to in order to make the money that we all need. So when I say I have things to do, I have things to do. So you can just back off when I tell you I’m busy!”

Steve looked at Tony like he was searching for something.

“Okay Tones, whatever you say. Goodnight.” With that, Steve walked away. 

Tony wished he was able to reach out and pull Steve back. That he could rest his head on Steve's shoulder and whisper the truth to him. Say, Hi Steve Rogers, I’m your soulmate, but life isn’t always simple. Tony had to learn that the hard way. No, not a lot in Tony’s life had been simple, and he really had no idea why he thought meeting his soulmate would be.  
As he started to walk, he thought about what Steve had said, and he knew that Steve was right. He hadn’t been taking care of himself and maybe he should just go to bed. The thought of going to bed after just cuddling with the super soldier filled him with unease. 

In the elevator, Tony kept his eyes on the floor.

“Take me to the lab, Jarvis.”

Without a word, the elevator moved to the lab as Tony thought of all the things that he could do to distract himself for the night.

*  
From that point on, Steve stopped coming around all together. No more asking if Tony was free, no more knocking on the door and waiting to see if Tony would answer. When he did see Tony, it was just a polite hello and not much more. He no longer tried to bring Tony food in the lab and didn’t tell Tony to sleep. 

One of the hardest parts was movie night. He made an effort to actually remember, hoping that things could feel a little bit like they used to. When he walked in, he noticed that Steve wasn’t in their regular spot on the loveseat, but had taken up residence in one of the arm chairs, leaving Natasha to sit on the loveseat. 

Tony tried very hard not to take it personally. He knew that he should be grateful, and that Steve giving him space was something he should want, something that he pushed for. The sting was still there though. The friendship that they had worked so hard to build wasn’t something that could be maintained, not now. 

Steve glanced at him and gave a little half smile then looked away. Tony had to stop himself from turning and walking out of the room.

The rest of the night he didn’t pay attention. Not when they were choosing the movie, not when it was playing and not when it was over. Everyone moved to go to bed, including Steve. He walked out of the room without a look or a word to Tony. Tony knew Steve was hurt because of Tony shutting him out, and he wanted to fix it, but this was his life now. He would just have to learn how to deal with it.

As he really did have nothing to do, Tony headed to bed. Hoping that a fresh day would clear his head of any of his lingering thoughts, he laid down and closed his eyes. Instead of relaxing, his mind raced, thinking about all the things he wished he could say. Eventually, he was able to drop off into a fitful sleep.

He awoke abruptly, early the next morning to the sound of the Avengers alarm. He thought that this battle was going to be like any other, but fate continued with it's own plans.

*  
It was the second time that day that Tony woke up. Except this time, it happened slowly. He felt groggy, like he didn’t want to open his eyes and become aware of what was going on. With his eyes closed, he took stock of his other senses. His mouth tasted like death, and his bed wasn’t as soft as it usually was. The room itself smelled of chemicals, and he became aware of the beeping of a heart monitor. He finally decided to open his eyes and saw that he was laying in a hospital bed. 

As he became more aware, Tony made sure all his parts were there. Wiggling his toes and moving his fingers. When he tried to move his fingers on his right hand, he felt that they were somewhat restricted. When he looked over, he finally noticed Steve holding his hand, head down on the bed. 

Tony had no idea how long he had been here, or how long it had taken him to notice Steve. He couldn’t tell if Cap was asleep or not, so he decided to just try and pull his hand away. As Tony slowly tried to remove his hand, Steve jerked his head up.

“Tony! Oh my God, you’re finally awake. How are you feeling? What can I do? Let me go get a doctor!” Steve moved to rush out of the room.

“Wait! Please don’t go. Stay, tell me what happened.” Tony reached for Steve's hand and Steve did not hesitate to grab it once again.

“Well, I don’t know how much you remember. Got called out to a battle with the wrecking crew.”

“Yeah, I remember that much.” And he did. The whole battle felt pretty standard until the point that Tony can’t remember.

“Right, okay, that’s good. So things are looking good, like we might get out of there with no casualties and not too much infrastructure damage, when piledriver knocks down a support beam to a building. There had been civilians trapped inside and I was making my way over to them when you darted in to get them. You were able to get them out in time but the building fell on you.”

At this point in the story, Steve is looking down at their intertwined hands. His voice is shaky and Tony can tell he is tired, if the bags under his eyes are anything to go by. Tony squeezes his hand and he looks up. Steve looks like he is about 10 seconds from breaking down.

“Oksy, so am I right in assuming I was quickly buried in 100 tons of concrete?” Tony asked, trying to lighten the mood, and it almost worked when Steve huffed a small laugh.

“Yes, you are right in assuming.” The small smile spilled as quickly off his face as it had appeared.

“You were buried and we had to dig you out. The suit took the brunt of it, but it could only do so much. You broke some of your ribs, which punctured one of your lungs. You also hit your head and you were unconscious when we found you. We got control of the wrecking crew pretty quickly and got you out even quicker. The doctors got you into surgery to fix your lung and here we are.” Steve took a breath in as he finished the story.

“Well, that sucks.”

“That sucks? Really, that’s what you’re going with? You scared the shit out of me- of us. I was right there, why didn’t you just let me do it? I would’ve been in and out, but no you had to go and end up in the hospital.” It wasn't often that Steve got upset like this, only with things he really cared about.

“I guess I ran the numbers and they made sense. The suit is designed to take things like that and it did. I’m not dead, no sense in worrying.” Tony was just trying to placate the growing anger that he could see building. 

“Tony, I will always worry about you and that is not gonna change. I will worry less when you stop being so reckless. You’re one of the most important people in the world to me and I just want you to be safe. Now let me take care of you and let me go get the doctor.” Steve pulled his hand out Tony's and walked out of the room.

With nothing but the sounds of medical equipment around him, Tony was alone with his thoughts. He didn’t know he was that important to Steve. He knew they were friends, but he had no idea Steve thought that about him. I mean sure, Tony felt that way about Steve, even before he knew they were soulmates, but Steve had no reason to feel that way about him.

The doctor came in and told Tony what had happened, how the surgery had gone, and what he would have to do in the upcoming weeks. The whole time the doctor spoke, Steve sat next to Tony, nodding along with all the instructions. 

After the doctor left, the team came in to check how he was doing. Tony tried to keep the conversation light and avoided looking too deeply into the faces of his team mates. They all had thinly veiled looks of worry on their faces and it made Tony uncomfortable to think about people worrying about him.  
After that, Tony quickly managed to convince everyone that he would take care of himself at home, not wanting to just lay in a hospital bed. He promised to have Jarvis monitor him and to hang out on the common floor so that people could keep an eye on him. 

The team went back to the tower earlier, saying they were going to get things ready for him and that they were planning on spending the evening together. Tony would never admit it out loud, but he was happy that they were doing it. As much as people caring for him made him uncomfortable, he really didn’t want to be alone right now.

As the others left, Steve stayed with him. He had brought Tony some clothes to put on and helped him walk down the hallway of the hospital and out the front entrance. That had been a mistake. As soon as the doors slid open, cameras began to flash and reporters yelled questions at him. He just kept walking, putting more weight on Steve, feeling safer with the taller man at his side. He ignored all the questions being thrown out, until he heard one that didn’t sit well with him at all.

“Mr. Stark! Do you blame Captain Rogers for your injury, for not getting to you sooner?” A blonde reporter shoved her way through the crowd of people. Tony turned to her as fast as his injury would let him.

“Nope, not okay. Steve Rogers is in no way to blame for my injury. He did everything he could to not only save me, but diffuse the situation. I know he will always save me when the time comes.” Tony then turned away, looped his arm with Steve, and dragged him to the waiting car.

They got in and sat down. Steve didn’t say anything, he just stared at Tony unblinking.

“Sorry about that. You know how reporters can be, and I hope you know that I would never blame you for my antics.” 

“I know that.” Steve finally blinked and turned to look out the window.

The ride back to the tower was silent and strangely tense. Tony wondered if he had said something wrong, something that Steve didn’t like, but he was coming up blank. He noticed that Steve was absently-mindly rubbing his hand over his thigh and Tony wondered if maybe he hurt himself and didn’t say anything. He knew the serum would take care of things but if it was serious enough it could hurt for a while.

“Hey winghead, you doing ok there?”

‘Hmm? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I’m good. I'm great actually. Do you think we could head up to my floor for a minute when we get back home? I have something I need to show you.” Steve had a look in his eye that Tony couldn’t identify, but he found it so hard to say no to Steve.

“Sure, capiscle. As long as I get to sit down, I’m good.” As much as being alone with Steve was hard for him, he couldn’t deny his curiosity. 

“Of course. I’ll take care of you.”

They made their way up to Steve’s floor, the silence still being carried over from the car. Steve offered his support to Tony as they walked, and led him to the couch in his living room to sit down, then sat down next to him.

“So what was it that you wanted to show me?” Tony adjusted himself to get comfortable and avoid any pressure on his ribs. 

“You know, when I woke up from the ice, I thought I had lost everyone. That I would never find the person that was meant for me. That they would have been long gone, and I accepted that. I had even let my heart open again, ready for whatever was to come my way.” Steve stood up at this point and started to take off his belt.

“Whoa , Stevie! What are you-”

“Shush Tony, let me show you”, and Steve pulled down his pants to right below his knee. There looking back at Tony was his soulmark. It was a mark that he knew well, one that he stared at in the mirror on nights when he just couldn’t sleep.

“Um, I don’t know wha-” Tony started to question but Steve stopped his train of thought.

“Wow, the colour is even better than I could’ve imagined.” Steve looked at the mark with an intensity that Tony couldn’t put into words.

Steve pulled his pants back up and looked Tony dead in the eyes. “Tony Stark, you are an enigma and I’m so happy that it’s you.”

With that, he leaned down, gently grabbed Tony’s face and kissed him.

It was a soft kiss, no real heat behind it, and over too soon, but it was one of the best kisses Tony had ever experienced. His whole body felt the vibrations of two souls meant to be, finally coming together. The tingles that he felt in his soulmark spread, and felt so warm and right.

Steve pulled back, just breathing. He sat back down next to Tony and gathered him in a hug, tucking Tony’s head under his chin.

“How long have you known?” Tony tried to pull back at that, going to deny it, but Steve’s arms tightened, keeping him where he was.

“I’m not going to let you talk your way out of this one. You had no reaction when I said your name, which means that you already knew.” His tone was uneasy, like he was afraid of the answer.

There was no avoiding it now.

“I’ve known for a little while. You said my name one morning and that was it.”

“Is that why you started to push me away?” Steve questioned, already knowing the answer.

“Yeah, and I’m sorry. I didn’t want to ruin our friendship, but being around you was taking a toll on me.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Steve couldn’t keep the hurt out of his voice. “Is it because you don’t want me?”

“No, of course not! God, I’m sorry. I’m just a piping hot mess when it comes to things like this. I would rather suffer alone than have you reject me. I didn't think that you would want to be saddled with me. I was trying to protect you.” Tony waited for the arms to pull away, for the rejection to come.

“Oh sweetheart, I fell in love with you long before I knew we were soulmates. This just means I don’t have to feel guilty about it. I wanted you to be mine but I knew that you had a soulmate out there somewhere and they would be the luckiest person in the world.”

Steve tilted Tony’s chin up so they were eye to eye, finally seeing each other for what felt like the first time.

“I am so happy that I get to be that person”, Steve whispered to Tony like he was the most precious thing in the world.

When they kissed the next time, the softness was gone. It had been replaced by heat and passion. Steve slid his tongue over the seam of Tony’s lips and Tony let out a small moan. He felt the tingles growing all over his body and he wanted nothing more than to melt into Steve. 

Steve pulled away just as Tony’s body had started to react to the stimulus, wanting more than kissing.

“Tony, you just got out of the hospital. As much as I would love to make you mine, you have to take it easy.” Steve stood up, dragging Tony into his arms.

“But-”

“No buts. We have all the time in the world and right now you need rest. So we are going downstairs and I’m going to put on a mindless show and you are going to fall asleep.”

“That does sound nice.” And it really did, as Tony was very tired.

“And I am going to cuddle you while you sleep because I just got you and I’m not about to let you go.” Tony felt butterflies in his stomach at Steve’s statement.

“Right ok, that sounds do-able.” Tony smiled up at his soulmate and received one back that was so soft and intimate and just for him.

They made their way into the common room, where the team was already gathered. The tv played softly in the background and nobody was really paying attention. Natasha just smiled, like she already knew. No one batted an eye when they laid down on the loveseat together. Steve was so gentle, avoiding Tony’s injury, and Tony felt comfortable and safe wrapped up in his arms.

Tony was starting to drift off when he whispered into Steve’s ear-

“By the way, I love you too. I love you so much, Steve Rogers.”

“I love you too, Tony Stark.”

**Author's Note:**

> if you want to follow me on tumblr, I'm around
> 
> tonymystarks.tumblr.com


End file.
